


Let's get the (problems in a) party started

by Crisegna, grishae



Series: Walk tall — the way to become a king. [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Awkward Dates, Crushes, Drinking, Drinking & Talking, F/M, Festivals, Fun, Games, Gladio vs Noct, HELL YEA, Humor, Multi, Original Character(s), Partying, Platonic Romance, Secret Crush, Seduction, Wet Clothing, cocky prompto, fang (ffxiii) secret cameo, gladio aka bodyguard, hit the chocobo™, partying chocobros, this town is 2 hot 4 u, what happens in Lestallum stays in Lestallum
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-05 03:32:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10296521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crisegna/pseuds/Crisegna, https://archiveofourown.org/users/grishae/pseuds/grishae
Summary: The chocobros needed to take a break. That's a fact. And the 'Lestallum Workers' Festival' was their best option. There had to be at least a moment for them to have fun and forget about daemons. But they had never imagined how that would end up. We can only say one thing: what happens in Lestallum stays in Lestallum.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, hi there opening! We bring you a new chaptered fic (no more than three-four chapters, we guess so). We found inspiration in this cute pic of the chocobros! > http://imgur.com/Tn61FHh.jpg <
> 
> Hope you enjoy it!
> 
> * mature for the incoming chapters, you'll see...

There weren't good times for partying for Noctis and his friends. King Regis' fatidical death left Noctis a lot of problems among his reign, and concerning his role as a future king, he didn't want to rest a single day. He had to fulfill his duty by achieving the thirteenth Royal Arm. Besides, he and their royal guard were always pursued by the Imperium tropes.

Days after the tragedy, there were less safer places on Lucis, but the boys managed to protect their prince, even when he didn’t play his part in being extra careful. Noctis smiled progressively, well-knowing he wasn't alone at all. Another reason for being more cheerful is knowing that Lunafreya had survived Insomnia's attack –at last they could continue on their mission.

A certain day, Prompto convinced his friends to make night at Lestallum once again. The city celebrated a festival every year, in order to congratulate their working females. Due to their King's death, they held it over a few days later. They managed to change the reason it was held: to offer their respects to the fallen sovereign and to give Noctis their strength. Of course, it was something Insomnians only would know.

“We need to take a break” Prompto insisted. There weren't any reproaching glances from the others, but he knew he had to do better than that. The sun set and now Lestallum was ready for the festival. The band remained in their hotel room until dinner time. “My arms are already sore”, he made a face and pulled Ignis’ sleeve. The blonde thought it would be easier to reason with him since the other two liked to take endless quests.

“Celebrations are always a good option, but it’s up to Noct”, Ignis would go wherever the prince pleased.

“Damn right”, Gladio could beat a hundred more daemons if it was necessary, but he could use a great festival, indeed.

“Why not, I guess we can have the night off”, he shrugged his shoulders after thinking about it thoroughly. The daemons wouldn’t disappear from one day to another, right? And they deserved it.

“Yoo-hoo! Party time! Let's call Iris, shall we?” If it wasn’t for Prompto’s sparkling eyes, the room would be much darker for sure.

"Wait, what's the matter with my sister?" he raised an eyebrow. Gods, eyebrows never looked so scary until then.

"She could come with us!" In fact, Prompto had already sent her an instant message. Gladio got close to him to check his phone and say a thing or two, but Prompto escaped in time. "Yes!  She's coming!" he shook his phone while he was dancing towards the exit.

“It seems like the festival has already started”, before Prompto would go too far away, Ignis headed to the door and adjusted his glasses with an elegant move. “Gladio, please, watch out for Noct”, and blended into the shadows.

“Gotcha”, way too easy for him. But his smirk faded away just when he was about to lean on what was supposed to be the future king’s shoulder. Gladio noticed that the curtains weren’t moving right before then. So it could only mean one thing. “Damn it”, he rolled his eyes and left the room as fast as he could, with merely three strides.

 

Everyone was so immersed in the festival that they didn’t even see Noctis projecting himself. He had to do it. Hanging out with Gladio must be cool. But the two of them alone? No way. Not knowing that Gladio would try to introduce him to every girl he’d cross. And did you see his freaking height? He would absolutely be in the spotlight. So, whenever he saw the giant getting close, Noctis fled with free snacks that he didn’t even know how he got. Suddenly, something got his attention. He chewed his Skewered Wild Trout intensely, as if there was nothing around him but that event.

“Shit, Noct,” Gladio finally reached him and sure looked like he wouldn’t let his arm loose in a long time. “Would you stop–” but he looked at what had caught Noctis’ eye and laughed. “Wanna try that?"

Noctis nodded, hiding his devious smile behind his food.

 

. . .

 

In the meantime, Ignis and Prompto could find Gladio’s sister successfully, which was a big achievement after seeing the hordes of people coming in and out. Some kind of electronic music wrapped the square where most of the people were gathered —dancing and talking equally as well.

“Iris!” Prompto shouted and waved his hand with the energy he once said he hadn’t. “We’re here!”

“I don’t think she can hear you. Why don’t we get closer?” said and done. Ignis was always right, _wasn’t he?_

Iris was already waiting for them near a bar plenty of drinks already prepared for being served. All of her friends had a drink on her hands and she wouldn’t be less than them.

“Hi there,” Iris replied with a sweet tiny smile. _Cute as always_ . It was a weird contrast with his old brother's appearance. Prompto didn't ever considered going on a date with her —Gladio was undoubtedly his brother in arms but would be the worst brother-in-law.  
  
“Howdy girls!” Prompto took advantage of the situation as Noctis and Gladio weren't there, eclipsing their surroundings with their presence. ''Name's Prompto. This gentleman right here is Ignis.'' The last one smiled courteously and bowed lightly.    
  
“Nice to meet you!” In unison, Iris' friends introduced themselves one by one. Prompto tried to memorize their names but he obviously felt attracted to the blondie one. She was a wavy, long haired girl with an average height. Her likeness with Cindy made his heart skip a beat. Besides, what caught Prompto's eye was that big shiny amethyst  right a few inches above her prominent neckline. _For Eons sake._ Dressed in different clothes, they didn’t look like the worker girls Gladio had pointed out when they had arrived for the first time in the town.

‘'Where's my brother?” Iris inquired and stood on her tiptoes due to her shortness.

“Bodyguarding someone else” Prompto shrugged. He also wanted to say _poor Noctis_ . “You’re safe from any harm.” Iris chuckled. In fact, it was kind of a relief. Gladio wouldn’t approve Iris drinking a single drop of alcohol.  
  
“Is this your first time at The Lestallum Workers' Festival?” A dark haired girl wearing glasses asked.  
  
Ignis couldn’t help noticing the beautiful colors of their drinks as well as their clothes. “It is. Our schedule has been unfavorable until tonight” they wouldn’t even find the moment to sleep in a decent bed.  
  
''So are you guys excited?'' One of them asked. Prompto couldn't tell the exact reason. Instead, he hoped Ignis would reply but something caught his attention in a crowded square.  
  
“Boredom is unthinkable for anyone here. No exceptions” the strategist avoided an uncomfortable pause quick enough to keep their attention. Yet, he managed to look at the distant crowd while he was part of that conversation.

''You are the ones who kill daemons, aren’t you?'' Prompto nearly freaked out with the direct question from the blondie. Since when in Eos were girls interested in those creepy matters? But rather than being surprised, he was pleased. The blonde guy would never underestimate a girl and those were as hard-working as pretty.  
  
''Yeah. That's what the kingsguard does. We were roughly trained, you know” he smirked, firing a fictional shoot with a fictional sound included. He noticed someone shared the same sense of humor as him when he heard a giggle.  
  
“We protect the prince as well.” Ignis added politely, though his eyes were still placed on a point from a far distance.

“My father owns a restaurant and he is now leading a Bounty Hunt,” the blondie looked at Prompto. ‘'If you're  interested…’’ Suddenly, Prompto got everyone’s gaze on him, as if he was the only one talking. He could get used to that.

“You bet,” second contact was also very important. “I'll let you know soon,” he promised. The night was young and he would manage to get her phone number somehow.

“These are hard times for daemon hunters” Iris sighed, apparently unaware of the flirting show. Her friends nodded in agreement. ''Let's enjoy the night!'' Iris talked the same language as the livewire.

“Right, now we're free! Lestallum is safe. Don't worry ‘bout a thing, girls” By the time he got an ovation, the blondie placed a drink on his hand. ''Oh, thanks.'' It was time for being a little bit cocky. Otherwise, he wouldn’t make the most of that night,  _right?_

 

. . .

 

It took one minute after the girls started flirting to get Ignis sneaking out of there, since he was feeling a little bit out of place. Prompto looked like he was doing okay, for the moment, so Ignis had to take advantage of it. It could turn out to be a mistake, but when something catches Ignis’ eyes, there was no turning back. He would bump into some of the people that got on his way, but he didn’t mind –he would apologize before, obviously– and continued heading to that _awfully interesting_ woman. Something about her had awaken the need to approach her without being able to help it. It could be the atmosphere. Perhaps the mysterious, pleasant scent coming from her. He recognized her way of walking, her hair color and her expert movements dodging people. Once he was close enough to know _exactly_ who she was, she turned towards him with a smirk on her lips. She definitely knew she was being followed.

“Look at you”, she tilted her head. “Of all the people”, they were in a scenario where it was difficult to picture Ignis in but not impossible.

“You sound deceived, Aranea.” He adjusted his glasses.

 “Not at all. I’d rather be with you than with some slimy daemon”, she took a sip of her drink.

  _Well, I feel flattered_ , he thought.

 If Ignis had ever been interested in someone from the opposite genre, he would be completely keen on get to know Aranea. Ignis romantic interest had never been mentioned before —neither his friends had inquired, but Aranea was genuinely his secret interest since she had joined the gang. Despite being in different sides of the battle, Ignis had already known that the dragoon could think by herself. She didn't let the Nilfheim Empire brainwash her due to her status as a mercenary. Ignis was loyal to his prince but Aranea was a free-spirited woman and she acted like that. So, she didn't have to justify her decisions —that was even more curious for Ignis.

 “It is good to see you”, the way she said it looked like she meant it was a surprise to see him alive yet.

 “You too. It certainly is difficult to recognize you without your armor.” Even then, without it, she’d still have her usual intimidating aura around her. Given all the people that were around them casually dancing, it was a matter of time that someone pushed him by accident from the back. Therefore, he invaded Aranea’s personal space

 “I like to change my clothes every now and then. Not like others.” She looked meaningfully at his outfit and got back her space by pushing him with a finger on his chest. He lightly bowed his head as an apology and adjusted his glasses again, remaining calm even though he could notice every _detail_ of her blouse thanks to his graceful point of view.

 “I wear them proudly” Ignis didn’t think there was anything wrong about it. Although you could smell the Crownguard’s clothes from far away. Not Ignis’, though. No idea how he does it.

 “Sure you do”, she chuckled and took another sip before offering some to him. Ignis gently declined her drink raising his hand. “Doing overtime?”

 “We are taking a break”, he immediately regretted not drinking. After all, everyone around him was carrying some kind of beverage. He could at least have two or three drinks, there would be no harm done if he just were careful. Which he usually was. _Usually._

 “ _We_?”, she raised an eyebrow, looking for his fellows. “And where’s your group?”

 “In some precise location”, Ignis didn’t know, that was obvious, and that made Aranea laugh. She knew the _exact location_ of at least two of them. Even from that far, she could see the bigger of them right behind Ignis. If he just turned, he would be able to do so, too.

 “Well then, If I were you I would go with your prince before they cause a mess”, she pointed at their direction with her chin and turned. “Good luck”.

 

But it was his night off. He had to take that into account.

 

. . .

 

"Am I the prince's guard or his fucking clown?" he grumbled, frowning. _Maybe both._

Gladio blamed his bad luck as if it were the tenth time but, in fact, it was the twentieth. Somehow he managed to place his enormous body on the sit a few meters above the pool. Noctis’ eyes were glittering in advance as he knew his aiming was perfect.

“All I gotta do is hit the center, right?” Noctis played with a red ball, enjoying the moment.

“Yeah, right on the chocobo!”, the person attending the game pointed at the yellow chocobo in the middle of the target. Above of it, Noctis could read the title of the game: _Hit the chocobo_. Wait, wasn’t that considered cruelty against chocobos? Prompto would not approve it, for sure.

 Knowing that he had five chances to mess around with Gladio and get him soaked, he planned his next moves really carefully. On the other side of the ring, Gladio was thinking about his past self. The one who thought that he would be passing the ball from one hand to another and not sitting on the plank. Everyone was cheering Noctis up, but what about the poor big guy? He was about to fall into iced water and nobody but him was aware of everything it implied. So careless, these people. Despite that, when it comes in terms of luck, it would be worthless to get angry at it. Gladio wasn’t the chosen one this time — Noctis had got the right side of the guile while he had got the tails.

 Sitting on the plank, Gladiolus could still remember his marvelous plan, once hardly convinced that he would be the one throwing the red ball, teasing the prince... and not the other way around. But what Gladio hated the most about that denigrant situation was Noctis’ attempts on hitting ‘ _right_ on the chocobo’. These arrogant smiles the prince projected at him —somewhat, not at his snazzy crowd— reminded him of those days Noctis had started beating him during the trainings. In fact, it was Gladio’s training purpose, imposed by King Regis, in order to make Noctis a qualified warrior. As they grew up and became equal friends and opponents, the shield developed competitiveness with his prince. The almost bored attitude of Noctis had always annoyed Gladio, no matter what. But he didn’t mean to be his personal jester, either. There had to be another way to change that aspect of his.

 And the Eons knew best that Gladio’s pride was something sacred for him. He’d put a lot of effort on keeping it intact so that some royal brat would go and tear it apart. Unfortunately for the new jester of the court, that was what it actually happened. Gladio saw himself between a rock and a hard place. Firstly, he definitely could just go away from there, but that would mean he’d get the audience booing all the time which would catastrophically affect on his pride level. And secondly, he’d still lose his beloved pride if he fell into that iced water. Things really were complicated; no matter how hard he tried to think about a solution, he would lose that battle either way.

 Noctis took advantage of it. “Hey, big guy. Did you see that coming?” he made fun of him once again. He still had two more attempts which he was going to enjoy so much. What he got was Gladio’s anger getting increasingly bigger as splashes of water soaked his skin.

“You’re dead,” Gladio whispered, arms folded in front of his wide chest. It was hot as hell in Lestallum and those splashes would have helped him... in other conditions. The responsible of the game encouraged  Noctis even more to hit the chocobo, although he already had an entire crowd around him calling out his name. Gladio wouldn’t flinch. He was ready ever since he was born. That’s why he still held a fierce but confident glare to his prince.

 No blink allowed. No looking away Noctis’ eyes. The second to last ball hit the chocobo’s head, which caused splashes that wet his legs. “How’s the water?”

“A little bit warm for my taste”, Gladio’s sarcasm was on point, no way he would lose his chance to show off his sarcastic abilities even when he was occupied getting ready for the grand finale, that is, Gladio turning into a giant ice cube.

“Oh, really?” Noctis massaged the last ball. Everyone was laughing at that point due to the amazing show they were making.

Gladio rolled his eyes. “Quit messing around already and—”

 Noctis' fans reacted before Gladio could say no more. Shouts and praises could be heard from underwater as the victim of the game was trying to remove drops of water from his eyes. Sight recovered, Gladio focused on Noctis' reaction. He was still clenching his right hand into a fist as the red ball had hit on the chocobo, undoubtedly. But he was still keeping an invisible thing  — maybe he was tasting the sweetness of freedom and victory with the biggest smile on his royal face.

 ‘’Don't wanna have me around when we camp’’ Gladio’s thread never reached Noctis, though. The prince didn't lose his smile. Gladio realized that his anger hadn't allowed him to see that Noctis had been smiling that widely since the game started, as he couldn't' have done it before for obvious reasons. The shield couldn’t help but smile him back. Goddamn, it was contagious.

Gladio's dark clothes were soaked as well and stucked on his muscles. It wasn't a very pleasant feeling at all. He managed to get out of the pool that was becoming more and more freezing while he was sweeping along the weight of the water. Just when he got out of there, he tried to adjust his pants, too, mostly caring for a certain zone, but the cloth would still stick to his skin no matter what he did. Gladio, going through the crowd, made sure everyone would get refreshed thanks to his ‘accidental’ closeness. He thought it would annoy them. On the contrary, they loved it and tried to get themselves wet getting water from Gladio’s head and shoulders. Without knowing how, he was now free, standing right where Noctis was. But there was no sign of him. Again, he disappeared. Gladio rolled his eyes and swore to the astrals he would _take care_ of him if he saw him. _Well, you better watch your ass, ‘cause I’m not going after you_ , Gladio thought before a girl from the reward shop got his attention.

“Sir!”, she shouted, raising his hand. _I guess that’s me_ , Gladio made a face, bothered with his clothes, and approached her. “You won a prize! Please choose from the first row behind me”. He was the one that had lost, but a prize is a prize and he wouldn’t turn it down.

Gladio scratched his head and didn’t think it twice when he saw a shirt with the _‘Hit the Chocobo_ ’ logo on it. “Could use that shirt there”. After all, his jacket weighed ten pounds more than usual.

He turned and made his way back to the crowd, with his new-kind-of-tight shirt and left his jacket on the desk. The girl had told him that she would keep it until the festival finished, so he had to come back for it. He still had a problem with his pants, but it’s not like he was going to get naked in front of Lestallum for free. He just hoped they would dry naturally, someday.

“That shirt sure suits you”, a female voice came from Gladio’s back. He raised an eyebrow and turned his head towards her. She was a beautiful brunette, and the lack of light didn’t had to do anything with it. Her height was extraordinarily upper than the female average but her slender body helped her to look impressive at Gladio’s eyes. She reached his chin without wearing heels at all. Instead, she was comfortable on her well-dressed flats and showed off some quaint tattoos all over her toned arms.

“Is that the best pick-up line you can come up with?” he chuckled. He thought he was starting to get used to being surrounded by all those Lestallum beauties, but that cute chick was somehow a breath of fresh air —an unexpected and grateful interruption.

“What can I say? I’m speechless”

“Nah, I’m not falling into that one either”

“Let me change your mind, then” she showed no signs of being so drunk. Just a little bit, perhaps.

“That’s more like it”

 

Her smile would have stopped the entire world if Eons were on her side. And Gladio could make sure they were. He completely forgot about his revenge.

Well, after all it was worth getting soaked.

 

**· ·**

**Author's Note:**

> · · · 
> 
> we're already working on the next chapter!


End file.
